What is wisdom? It’s meaning is often elusive to us, for it is mysterious and seems beyond us. The Scriptures speak frequently of wisdom: “The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her, and love of her is the keeping of her laws” (Wisdom 6:17-18). And again, speaking of wisdom as a woman, “I loved her and sought her from my youth, and I desired to take her for my bride, and I became enamored of her beauty” (Wisdom 8:2). Yet the ancient philosophers were also deeply concerned about wisdom, which shows us that it is something obtainable through natural reason. We can begin to understand much about the pursuit of wisdom when we look into the perennial philosophy, the Scriptures, and finally, into wisdom as one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Mary, Seat of Wisdom
Turning first to the ancient philosophers, Aristotle writes in the Metaphysics, “We do not regard any of the senses as wisdom; yet surely these give the most authoritative knowledge of particulars. But they do not tell us the ‘why’ of anything—e.g. why fire is hot; they only say that it is hot.” In other words, wisdom does not give us specific knowledge of a thing, but instead, gives us the understanding of why a thing exists as it does. While the five senses affirm that a fire is hot (especially through the sense of touch), which is “particular,” or specific knowledge; they cannot explain why the fire is hot. Aristotle continues, saying that wisdom “must be the science that investigates the first principles and causes; for the good, i.e. that for the sake of which, is one of the causes.” Wisdom is that science, or branch of knowledge, which studies the first causes of things. For example, wisdom can tell us why a thing exists or acts in a particular way; it can also point to the essence or being of a thing. As such, this study of wisdom ultimately leads to the study of God, who is the first cause of all things.
We can see this argument of God as the end of wisdom described in the Summa Contra Gentiles, a work written by St. Thomas Aquinas for engaging non-Christians in dialogue. He writes about the office of the wise man. “They are called ‘wise’ who put things in their right order and control them well.” Such a man looks to the end of things, which means he is concerned with the first cause of the universe, for “it is proper to the wise man to consider the highest causes.” This “highest cause” is God, who is “intelligence” itself, according to Aquinas. For that reason, “the last end of the universe must be the good of the intelligence, and that is truth. Truth then must be the final end of the whole universe, and about the consideration of that end wisdom must primarily be concerned.” Thus, the pursuit of wisdom is fundamentally oriented toward the study of God, who is the Creator of the whole universe. By pursuing wisdom, man is ultimately pursuing God, which means that he is ordering his earthly life to eternal beatitude with him in Heaven.
This pursuit of wisdom discussed in the perennial philosophy and the theology of Aquinas is not unlike the wisdom described in the Scriptures. In the Book of Proverbs, we read the personified voice of Wisdom, “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old…When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep…When he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman” (8:22; 27; 29-30). We see the origin of Aquinas’s philosophy in this Scripture passage, for Wisdom is described as a fashioner, as the ordering principle behind the creation of the world. Indeed, in the Book of Wisdom, she is described as “the fashioner of all things” (7:22). If wisdom orders all things, then it is fitting we learn about God through her. Indeed, among the many descriptions of wisdom, we read, “For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness” (Wisdom 7:26). She is described as “one,” although “she can do all things” (Wisdom 7:27). As such, wisdom is the one principle behind all things, even though she animates the diversity of creation. It is for this reason that “from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator” (Wisdom 13:5). Because wisdom orders creation, man is likewise ordering his life when he pursues her.
According to Aquinas (again in the Summa Contra Gentiles), wisdom is not lost with the Incarnation. Because truth is the end of the universe, “the Divine Wisdom, clothed in flesh, testifies that He came into the world for the manifestation of truth: For this was I born, and unto this I came into the World, to give testimony to the truth (John 18:37).” Christ, who is Truth, came to give witness to Truth by his very life. We find Christ’s statement in the midst of Pilate’s questioning. Pilate immediately responds, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Pilate could not see that Truth stood directly before him—or did not wish to believe it. How can Christ be Truth incarnate? We read in the Gospel of John, “He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (1:2-3). How similar John’s words are to the words from the Books of Proverbs and Wisdom! Christ is Truth, and he is Wisdom. Because he is God, he was there from the beginning, ordering the creation of the world. It is for this reason that one of Mary’s titles is “Seat of Wisdom,” for Christ, who is Wisdom itself, sits on her lap. In pursuing Christ, therefore, we are also pursuing wisdom and ordering our lives to eternal life with him.
Is this pursuit of wisdom we have been discussing the same gift from the Holy Spirit? Prudence is often called practical wisdom, for although it does not pursue the highest causes, since it deals with practical matters, it does bring order to an individual’s life. Part of prudence is receiving right counsel; a person must receive good instruction about what to do in life, and this instruction comes from the wise (often the elderly). But man also receives counsel from God, and this is the Holy Spirit’s gift of wisdom. As Aquinas writes:
Hence in the research of counsel, man requires to be directed by God who comprehends all things: and this is done through the gift of counsel, whereby man is directed by God, just as, in human affairs, those who are unable to take counsel for themselves, seek counsel from those who are wiser (ST II-II, Q. 52, art. 1, ad. 1).
Therefore, the gift of wisdom from the Holy Spirit assists the wisdom acquired through reason. In receiving the supernatural gift of wisdom, given from God who is Truth, man is spiritually enlightened in his pursuit of wisdom. As such, the gift of wisdom causes man to desire more deeply the knowledge of God and to pursue him more closely as the ultimate end of the universe
In the last analysis, our desire for wisdom can transform the way that we live in Christ, for pursuing the noblest end in our studies is ultimately the pursuit of the Holy Trinity. Wisdom not only informs our intellect, but it also assists our will in acting prudently and choosing moral actions. Thus, our pursuit of wisdom will lead us to a deeper understanding of God, but we must also have the humility to ask for the gift of wisdom, for God is the one who bestows on us knowledge of himself. We should implore the Holy Spirit for the gift of wisdom, so that we might come to a deeper knowledge of God, ourselves, and the virtues to live a holy life in him.
Veronica Arntz graduated from Wyoming Catholic College with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts, which included courses in humanities, philosophy, theology, and Latin, among others using the Great Books of Western thought. The title of her senior thesis was, “Communio Personarum Meets Communionis Sacramentum: The Cosmological Connection of Family and Liturgy.” She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Theology from the Augustine Institute.
